U.S. patent number 8,249,677 [Application Number 12/824,236] was granted by the patent office on 2012-08-21 for handheld electronic device.
This patent grant is currently assigned to HTC Corporation. Invention is credited to Chin-Chung Shih, Yi-Shen Wang.
United States Patent |
8,249,677 |
Shih , et al. |
August 21, 2012 |
Handheld electronic device
Abstract
A handheld electronic device including a first body, a second
body and a sliding mechanism is provided. The first body includes a
first frame and a first cover connected to each other. The second
body includes a second frame and a second cover connected to each
other. The second frame is stacked over the first frame and
partially located between the first frame and the first cover. The
first frame is partially located between the second frame and the
second cover. The sliding mechanism is disposed between the first
body and the second body and is covered by the first cover and the
second cover. The first frame and the second frame are slidable
relative to each other through the sliding mechanism so that the
first frame and the second frame are exposed by the second cover
and the first cover, respectively.
Inventors: |
Shih; Chin-Chung (Taoyuan
County, TW), Wang; Yi-Shen (Taoyuan County,
TW) |
Assignee: |
HTC Corporation (Taoyuan
County, TW)
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Family
ID: |
42732848 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/824,236 |
Filed: |
June 28, 2010 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20110164355 A1 |
Jul 7, 2011 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jan 5, 2010 [TW] |
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99100080 A |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/575.4;
455/575.8; 455/550.1; 455/575.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M
1/0237 (20130101); H04M 1/035 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04M
1/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;455/550.1,575.1,575.4,575.8 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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1860710 |
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Nov 2007 |
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EP |
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2187600 |
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May 2010 |
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EP |
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2009-081354 |
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Jul 2009 |
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WO |
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Other References
"1st Office Action of European Counterpart Application", issued on
Oct. 18, 2010, p. 1-p. 6, in which the listed references were
cited. cited by other .
"Extended Search Report of European Counterpart Application",
issued on Sep. 29, 2010, p. 1-p. 3, in which the listed references
were cited. cited by other.
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Primary Examiner: Alam; Fayyaz
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Jianq Chyun IP Office
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A handheld electronic device, comprising: a first body,
comprising: a first frame; a first cover connected to one end of
the first frame and stacked over the first frame, wherein the first
cover and the first frame define a first containing space; a second
body, comprising: a second frame stacked over the first frame and
partially located in the first containing space; a second cover
connected to one end of the second frame and stacked over the
second frame, wherein the second cover and the second frame define
a second containing space, and the first frame is partially located
in the second containing space; and a sliding mechanism disposed
between the first body and the second body and covered by the first
cover and the second cover, wherein the first body and the second
body are slidable relative to each other through the sliding
mechanism, so that the first frame and the second frame are
respectively moved out from the second containing space and the
first containing space, wherein the sliding mechanism, the first
containing space and the second containing space are covered by the
first body and the second body when the first frame and the second
frame are respectively moved out from the second containing space
and the first containing space.
2. The handheld electronic device as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising: a display module disposed on the first cover.
3. The handheld electronic device as claimed in claim 2, further
comprising: a keyboard module disposed on the second frame and
located in the first containing space, wherein the first body and
the second body are slidable relative to each other through the
sliding mechanism, so that the keyboard module is moved out from
the first containing space.
4. The handheld electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the sliding mechanism comprises: a first sliding member fixed to
the second frame; and a second sliding member fixed to the first
frame and slidingly disposed on the first sliding member.
5. The handheld electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a
surface of the first frame facing to the second cover has a
protrusion region and a concave region adjacent to each other, the
second cover covers the concave region and fits to the protrusion
region, and when the first body and the second body are relatively
slid through the sliding mechanism, the concave region is exposed
by the second cover.
6. The handheld electronic device as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising: a loudspeaker disposed on the first frame and located
in the second containing space.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application
serial no. 99100080, filed on Jan. 5, 2010. The entirety of the
above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by
reference herein and made a part of this specification.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to an electronic device. More
particularly, the present application relates to a handheld
electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
A handheld electronic device refers to an electronic device that
can be held and operated by a user, for example, a mobile phone, a
multimedia player, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld
computer, a handheld game machine and a handheld satellite
navigation device, etc. Such type of the electronic device
generally has relatively small size and light weight for the user
to carry around. Taking the mobile phone as an example, the earlier
mobile phone has a bar-type design. However, to increase a
portability of the mobile phone and maintain a screen size and a
keyboard size of the mobile phone, a folder-type mobile phone and a
slide-type mobile phone are developed.
Taking the slide-type mobile phone as an example, two bodies of a
commonly used slide-type mobile phone can be vertically or
horizontally moved relative to one another via a sliding mechanism,
so that the two bodies can present various appearance modes, and
the appearance modes can be used to match corresponding software
functions, so as to achieve a plurality of operation modes of the
slide-type mobile phone, for example, the operation modes of
standby, phone call and message, etc.
However, when the two bodies are departed from each other to expose
the sliding mechanism there between, a whole aesthetics of the
slide-type mobile phone is influenced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present application is directed to a handheld electronic
device, in which a sliding mechanism between two bodies of the
handheld electronic device can be totally covered.
The present application provides a handheld electronic device
including a first body, a second body and a sliding mechanism. The
first body includes a first frame and a first cover. The first
cover is connected to one end of the first frame and is stacked
over the first frame, wherein the first cover and the first frame
define a first containing space. The second body includes a second
frame and a second cover. The second frame is stacked over the
first frame and is partially located in the first containing space.
The second cover is connected to one end of the second frame and is
stacked over the second frame, wherein the second cover and the
second frame define a second containing space. The first frame is
partially located in the second containing space. The sliding
mechanism is disposed between the first body and the second body
and is covered by the first cover and the second cover, wherein the
first body and the second body are slidable relative to each other
through the sliding mechanism, so that the first frame and the
second frame are respectively moved out from the second containing
space and the first containing space.
According to the above description, the sliding mechanism is
disposed between the first body and the second body, and the first
body and the second body respectively have the first cover and the
second cover used for covering the sliding mechanism. Therefore,
when the first body and the second body are relatively slid through
the sliding mechanism to depart from each other, the sliding
mechanism can be covered by the first cover and the second cover
without being exposed, so as to maintain a whole aesthetics of the
handheld electronic device.
In order to make the aforementioned and other features and
advantages of the present invention comprehensible, several
exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in
detail below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further
understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate
embodiments of the invention and, together with the description,
serve to explain the principles of the invention.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a handheld electronic device
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the handheld electronic device of
FIG. 1.
FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B show an operation state of the handheld
electronic device of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are respectively partial perspective views of
the handheld electronic device of FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B.
FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are perspective views of the handheld
electronic device of FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B according to another
viewing angle.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a handheld electronic device
according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an
exploded view of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the
handheld electronic device 100 is, for example, a slide-type mobile
phone, and the handheld electronic device 100 includes a first body
110, a second body 120 and a sliding mechanism 130. The first body
110 is stacked over the second body 120, and the sliding mechanism
130 is disposed between the first body 110 and the second body 120.
In the present embodiment, the first body 110 of the handheld
electronic device 100 has a display module 140, and the second body
120 has a keyboard module 150.
FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B show an operation state of the handheld
electronic device of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, the
first body 110 and the second body 120 are slidable relative to
each other through the sliding mechanism 130 from a state shown in
FIG. 3A to a state shown in FIG. 3B, so that the keyboard module
150 located on the second body 120 is exposed by the first body 110
to facilitate user's operation.
FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are respectively partial perspective views of
the handheld electronic device of FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. Referring to
FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, in the present embodiment, the first body 110
includes a first frame 112 and a first cover 114, and the second
body 120 includes a second frame 122 and a second cover 124. The
first cover 114 is connected to one end of the first frame 112 and
is stacked over the first frame 112, wherein the first cover 114
and the first frame 112 define a containing space S1. The second
frame 122 is stacked over the first frame 112 and is partially
located in the containing space S1. The second cover 124 is
connected to one end of the second frame 122 and is stacked over
the second frame 122, wherein the second cover 124 and the second
frame 122 define a containing space S2, and the first frame 112 is
partially located in the containing space S2.
The first body 110 and the second body 120 are slidable relative to
each other through the sliding mechanism 130, so that the first
frame 112 is moved out from the containing space S2, and the second
frame 122 and the keyboard module 150 thereon are moved out from
the containing space S1 (as shown in FIG. 4B). It should be noticed
that regardless of the state shown in FIG. 4A or the state shown in
FIG. 4B, the sliding mechanism 130 between the first body 110 and
the second body 120 is covered by the first cover 114 and the
second cover 124, so as to avoid exposing the sliding mechanism 130
to maintain the aesthetics of the handheld electronic device
100.
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4B again, in the present embodiment,
the sliding mechanism 130 includes a first sliding member 132 and a
second sliding member 134. The first sliding member 132 is fixed to
the second frame 122, and the second sliding member 134 is fixed to
the first frame 112, and is slidingly disposed on the first sliding
member 132. In this way, when the user wants to use the keyboard
module 150, the user can push the first body 110 to drive the first
sliding member 132 to move relative to the second sliding member
134, so that the first body 110 and the second body 120 are
relatively moved from the state shown in FIG. 3A to the state shown
in FIG. 3B. Moreover, if the sliding mechanism 130 contains a
plurality of elastic modules 136, and the elastic modules 136 are
respectively connected to the first sliding member 132 and the
second sliding member 134, the handheld electronic device 100 has a
semi-auto sliding function.
FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are perspective views of the handheld
electronic device of FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B according to another
viewing angle. Referring to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, in the present
embodiment, a surface of the first frame 112 facing to the second
cover 124 has a protrusion region 112a and a concave region 112b
adjacent to each other. The second cover 124 is suitable for
covering the concave region 112b and fitting to the protrusion
region 112a (shown in FIG. 5A), and when the first body 110 and the
second body 120 are relatively slid to the state shown in FIG. 3B,
the concave region 112b is exposed by the second cover 124 as that
shown in FIG. 5B.
In this way, the concave region 112b can provide a space for the
second cover 124 sliding along the first frame 112, and the
protrusion region 112a can limit the second cover 124 to slide
within a suitable range. Moreover, when the handheld electronic
device 100 is in the state shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 5A, fitting of
the protrusion region 112a and the second cover 124 avails fixing
relative positions of the first body 110 and the second body
120.
Referring to FIG. 4B, in the present embodiment, a loudspeaker 170
can be disposed on the first frame 112 and located in the
containing space S2. In this way, when the first body 110 and the
second body 120 are relatively slid to the state shown in FIG. 4B,
the containing space S2 can serve as a sound box of the loudspeaker
170, so that the handheld electronic device 100 may have a better
sound effect.
In summary, the sliding mechanism is disposed between the first
body and the second body, and the first body and the second body
respectively have the first cover and the second cover used for
covering the sliding mechanism. Therefore, when the first body and
the second body are relatively slid through the sliding mechanism
to depart from each other, the sliding mechanism can be covered by
the first cover and the second cover without being exposed, so as
to maintain a whole aesthetics of the handheld electronic device.
Moreover, the second cover and the second frame of the second body
can define a containing space, and the first frame of the first
body is partially located in the containing space. Therefore, a
loudspeaker can be disposed on the first frame and located in the
containing space, so that the containing space can serve as a sound
box, so as to improve a sound effect of the handheld electronic
device.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various
modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the
present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the
invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the
present invention cover modifications and variations of this
invention provided they fall within the scope of the following
claims and their equivalents.
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